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CI/CD Pipeline Documentation

Comprehensive guide to Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment pipelines for modern software development.

Overview​

CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) is a methodology that automates the software delivery process, enabling teams to release high-quality software faster and more reliably.

Key Concepts​

Continuous Integration (CI)​

Continuous Integration is the practice of frequently merging code changes into a central repository, followed by automated builds and tests.

Benefits:

  • Early bug detection
  • Reduced integration problems
  • Faster development cycles
  • Improved code quality

Continuous Deployment (CD)​

Continuous Deployment automatically releases every change that passes through the production pipeline to customers.

Benefits:

  • Faster time to market
  • Reduced deployment risks
  • Automated rollback capabilities
  • Consistent deployment process

GitHub Actions​

GitHub Actions enables automation directly in your GitHub repository.

name: CI/CD Pipeline
on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Set up Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: '18'
      - run: npm install
      - run: npm test
      - run: npm run build

Jenkins​

Jenkins is an open-source automation server for building, testing, and deploying code.

pipeline {
    agent any
    stages {
        stage('Build') {
            steps {
                sh 'npm install'
                sh 'npm run build'
            }
        }
        stage('Test') {
            steps {
                sh 'npm test'
            }
        }
        stage('Deploy') {
            steps {
                sh 'npm run deploy'
            }
        }
    }
}

GitLab CI/CD​

GitLab CI/CD is built into GitLab with a .gitlab-ci.yml file.

stages:
  - build
  - test
  - deploy

build:
  stage: build
  script:
    - npm install
    - npm run build
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - build/

test:
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm test

deploy:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - npm run deploy
  only:
    - main

Pipeline Best Practices​

1. Keep Pipelines Fast​

  • Run tests in parallel
  • Use caching for dependencies
  • Optimize build processes
  • Fail fast on critical errors

2. Maintain Pipeline as Code​

# Store pipeline configuration in version control
# Example: .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: Fast CI Pipeline
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        node-version: [16, 18, 20]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
          cache: 'npm'
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test

3. Implement Proper Testing Stages​

  • Unit tests
  • Integration tests
  • End-to-end tests
  • Security scans
  • Performance tests

4. Use Environment Variables​

env:
  NODE_ENV: production
  API_KEY: ${{ secrets.API_KEY }}
  DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}

Deployment Strategies​

Blue-Green Deployment​

Maintain two identical production environments (blue and green), switching traffic between them.

Advantages:

  • Zero downtime
  • Easy rollback
  • Safe production testing

Canary Deployment​

Gradually roll out changes to a small subset of users before full deployment.

Implementation:

deploy:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - deploy_canary 10%  # Deploy to 10% of users
    - run_tests
    - deploy_canary 50%  # Increase to 50%
    - run_tests
    - deploy_full        # Full deployment

Rolling Deployment​

Update instances gradually, one or a few at a time.

Monitoring and Observability​

Key Metrics to Track​

  • Build success rate
  • Build duration
  • Deployment frequency
  • Mean time to recovery (MTTR)
  • Change failure rate

Logging Best Practices​

// Structured logging in CI/CD
console.log(JSON.stringify({
  timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
  level: 'INFO',
  stage: 'build',
  message: 'Build completed successfully',
  duration: '2m 34s',
  artifacts: ['bundle.js', 'styles.css']
}));

Security in CI/CD​

Secret Management​

  • Never commit secrets to version control
  • Use secret management services
  • Rotate secrets regularly
  • Implement least privilege access
# Use GitHub Secrets
deploy:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
    - name: Deploy to production
      env:
        DEPLOY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_TOKEN }}
        AWS_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY }}
      run: ./deploy.sh

Security Scanning​

security-scan:
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm audit
    - snyk test
    - trivy scan .

Troubleshooting Common Issues​

Pipeline Failures​

Problem: Tests fail intermittently Solution:

  • Identify flaky tests
  • Add retry logic
  • Improve test isolation

Problem: Slow build times Solution:

  • Enable caching
  • Parallelize jobs
  • Optimize dependencies

Problem: Deployment failures Solution:

  • Implement health checks
  • Add smoke tests
  • Enable automatic rollback

CI/CD Documentation Checklist​

  • Pipeline architecture diagram
  • Setup and configuration guide
  • Environment variables documentation
  • Deployment procedures
  • Rollback procedures
  • Troubleshooting guide
  • Security policies
  • Monitoring and alerting setup

Resources​

Next Steps​

Need help with CI/CD implementation? Contact our DevOps team at contact@techdocs.co.in

Connect with us: Roushan Gupta on LinkedIn

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